Bharti Foundation Launches ‘Learning with Leaders’ Series

Ø Bharti Foundation launches the ‘Learning with Leaders’ series in Government Higher Secondary School, Dhansal, Jammu
Ø Through this series, the Foundation invites exceptional educationists to share their inspirational journey in the field of education.

This initiative forms a critical part of the Foundation’s efforts to energise and recognise exceptional leaders in the field of education. Through “Learning with Leaders” the Foundation invites inspirational Educationists to share their learning and expertise with not only the attending students and teachers but also the Bharti Foundation team. To launch the first of the series, Bharti Foundation invited Shri Vijay Kumar, Principal, Government Higher Secondary School, Dhansal, Jammu to address the gathering.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Vijay Kumar, Principal, GSSS, Dhansal, said “Energised teams translate into energised schools, be it our well maintained herbal garden, community rallies by students, meetings with parents or instilling correct values: every aspect of the schooling practice requires dedication and passion. I am thankful to the program team from Bharti Foundation for their support for all our endeavours.”

The visiting top management included Vijay Chadda, CEO, Bharti Foundation, speaking at the inaugural session he said, “Educators in rural India carry the added responsibility of creating responsible citizenry of the future with limited resources. To witness first-hand the passion and dedication of teachers in Govt. Schools today and in all education programs of the Foundation across 12 states of India is indeed heartening.”

Mamta Saikia, COO, Bharti Foundation added, “At Bharti Foundation we empower teachers and school leaders to be evangelists of quality education who inspire others and are recognised as role models in the community. We have always looked up to our teachers for their commitment, dedication and passion for education, today we have taken this one step forward by recognising their leadership quality.”

Reacting to the experience shared by a school leader, National Conference MLA, Nagrota, Mr Devender Singh Rana shared his appreciation over the efforts of the Foundation team in providing the children access to quality of education, he said, “We reiterated this commitment when we joined hands with Bharti Foundation over a year ago. I am happy to see our combined efforts have promoted platforms such as these to bring about change and recognise leaders in the field.”

About Bharti Foundation:
Bharti Foundation was set up in the year 2000 as the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. It implements and supports programs in the field of primary, elementary, senior secondary and higher education through the Satya Bharti School Program as well as Government School interventions under its Satya Bharti Quality Support Program and Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program. In the year 2016, the Foundation has completed 10 successful years of its flagship initiative – the Satya Bharti School Program.

In addition to its primary focus area of education, the Foundation initiated ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ in 2014, to improve sanitation facilities in rural Ludhiana and ‘Nyaya Bharti’ in 2015 to provide legal and financial assistance to deserving underprivileged under-trials languishing in jails across the country for petty offences.

Bharti Foundation is currently reaching out to over 1,30,000 students through 1,700 schools/centres, engaging 4,700 teachers across 12 Indian states through its initiatives in the education sector. In addition, our programs have impacted over 1 million community members across rural India since inception. These programs have already been recognized as one of the largest private enterprise initiatives of the country in the education sector. Satya Bharti Abhiyan has also achieved the distinction of having delivered over 17,500 household toilets, directly benefitting more than 86,000 beneficiaries in the villages of Ludhiana. The Abhiyan is now extending its outreach to the urban areas of Ludhiana.

Our Programs:Ø The Satya Bharti School Program:
The Satya Bharti School Program is the flagship initiative of Bharti Foundation. This rural education initiative provides quality education to underprivileged children, completely free of cost, with a special focus on the girl child. The program envisions transforming students into educated, confident, responsible and self-reliant employable citizens of India with a deep sense of commitment to their society. The program’s reach is multi-pronged, encouraging active involvement of the rural community, parents of students and like-minded organizations working in the field of education in India. Making a lasting and sustainable impact on the community where schools are present and finding innovative solutions, through its primary and senior secondary schools, to create replicable and scalable components in the program ensures delivery of quality education. The Satya Bharti School Program is being implemented with the intent to arrive at replicable and scalable components of quality education which may be adapted by the Government and other like-minded organizations. Reaching out to thousands of underprivileged children, the program, through its focus on holistic development, aims to bring forth a new generation of citizens eager to usher in positive change. Currently 249 primary/elementary Schools and five senior secondary schools are operational across Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal reaching out to 43,638 children and employing 1,690 teachers. Focusing on the girl child [49% girl students] and the weaker sections of society [75% of children from SC/ST/OBC Communities], the program is one of the largest end-to-end education initiatives by a corporate group in the country.

Ø Quality Support Program:
The Satya Bharti Quality Support Program is an education initiative with Government Schools. Through this program, Bharti Foundation engages the school leadership, teachers, students and communities to enhance the schooling experience and strive for excellence. The approach focuses on identifying, integrating and optimising best practices from Satya Bharti Schools with the intent of encouraging innovation, participation, ownership and facilitating a sustainable change. Currently, the program is being run in 289 Government schools directly impacting 64,117 students and 2,769 teachers across seven states of India.

Ø Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program:
Bharti Foundation operates a remedial/bridge courses program with aim of bridging the education gap of out of school children and mainstreaming them into regular schools. The first phase of the program was deployed in partnership with the Government of Rajasthan and was scaled up to Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, extending program reach to the remote blocks of all three states. Currently, 299 Education Volunteers are engaged in teaching 3,427 out of school children, of which 49% are girls, enrolled at 226* Satya Bharti Learning Centres. Till now, 22,649 children have been mainstreamed, with the total impact reaching up to 29,756 children.

* 939 centres have been closed as most of the OOSC’s in these villages have been mainstreamed (number included in overall impact); in some villages the count of OOSC’s have dropped to such a low figure that it has gone below the minimum numbers required to run a centre, as per Government norms; of these, 58 Centres were closed due to of non-availability of qualified Education Volunteers.

Ø Nyaya Bharti
'Nyaya Bharti' is one-of-its-kind corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative by Bharti Enterprises, one of India's most respected business groups. The primary objective of Nyaya Bharti is to provide aid to underprivileged undertrials who are first time accused of petty offences and require financial and legal assistance to apply for bail and release. It also extends assistance to poor convicts undergoing imprisonment for petty offences due to their inability to pay petty fine imposed by the court. Nyaya Bharti's Governing Board is headed by Justice A.S. Anand (Retired Chief Justice of India). The Nyaya Bharti initiative aims at providing legal assistance and creating awareness about the undertrials' legal rights while complementing the legal aid work being undertaken by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and State Legal Services Authority (SLSAs) set up under statute legislated by the Parliament. Under this initiative 40 bail orders have been obtained and the release of 32 underprivileged undertrials has been effectuated.

Ø Satya Bharti Abhiyan:
On 18th August 2014, Bharti Foundation launched Satya Bharti Abhiyan, an initiative to improve sanitation facilities with rural Ludhiana as a focus area. Under this initiative, the Foundation has provided individual toilets in the villages of the District, fulfilling its objective of leaving no rural household across Ludhiana without a toilet. Till now, the Abhiyan has provided over 17,500 household toilets directly benefitting more than 86,000 beneficiaries in rural Ludhiana. In addition, it has helped in improving sanitation facilities in Government schools by providing a separate toilet for girls in 14 Government schools of rural Ludhiana as identified by Department of Education (Punjab). The Abhiyan has entered phase II of implementation by extending its footprint in the urban areas of Ludhiana. This is intended to support the District Administration’s initiative of declaring Ludhiana open defecation free.